The Last Page
by PennyKelly
Summary: Hermione wrote Charlie a letter for New Year's Eve filled with memories of their many midnights before. But it's the last page that will change their midnights forevermore.


**AN:** Written for Fairest of the Rare's Advent 2017. Inspired by New Year's Day by Taylor Swift, rain, Christmas lights, and cold hardwood floors. A nice fluffy treat for you. Happy holidays and happy new year!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or profit from Harry Potter or its related properties.

 **The Last Page**

Hermione pulled on Charlie's discarded dress shirt over her party dress and made her way quietly from their bedroom, letting the dragon tamer sleep off what she was fairly certain would be one hell of a hangover. She pulled the fabric closer around herself against the morning chill, since coming back to her old flat for the holidays they'd not been home enough to warrant keeping a warming charm going for long spells of time. Her bare feet padded quickly over the cold hardwood, through the piles of glitter and confetti from the party the night before, and onto the slightly warmer fabric of the living room rug.

She smiled softly as she took in the remnants of last night's festivities. Champagne flutes and empty bottles littered most open surfaces, candle wax pooled where they'd sat on the floor when the power had gone out in the Muggle flat and they'd decided not using magic made for a more romantic memory. Scattered moving photographs smiled and laughed back at her as she tried to remember who had worn the strappy silver heels the night before and managed to leave without them. She vaguely thought it might have been Ginny or Luna, both had donned gorgeous metallic dresses at the beginning of the night. They'd left on the arms of Harry and Rolf sometime after two a.m., but she couldn't recall who hadn't been carrying their shoes.

She saw the multi-page letter she'd written Charlie for the New Year sticking out from under one of the couch cushions. She'd made him promise not to read the last page until morning and given his behaviour over the course of the evening, she was relatively certain he'd not snuck a look early. She slid the missive free and settled under a throw blanket, tucking her toes into the split between the cushions. She'd wait for him to rise and make the fire, knowing he loved the Muggle task.

 _My Darling Charlie,_

 _I still remember that first New Year's Eve when you insisted on riding home with me in the back of the cab, not trusting the non-Wizarding service to deliver me home as safely as apparating or floo might have done. I'd wanted to relive childhood memories of watching London sparkle in the rain on the way home and the way it all felt like magic as the Christmas lights twinkled on, years before I ever knew what real magic was. You were giddier than any grown man had any right to be about the experience, clinging onto my hand in excitement as we moved through the city streets in the back seat and watched the rain streak down the glass and obscure the bright colours breaking up the dark of the night._

 _That first night feels like a lifetime ago, but we still take winter rides through town, the later the better, and pretend for a moment we can't create our own magic. And you squeeze my hand and whisper you love me when we get to wherever it is we're going, the destination never really the point. And I smile and thank fate that you're the one I'm on the long road of life with. You're the one I get to cheer on or console with every victory or failure. Whether it's here at my flat in London on holiday or back home in Romania. Who knew Romania would feel so much more like home than anywhere else? It truly is, because it's where you are. Where we are together most often. Our little mountain house surrounded by the roar of dragons. I wouldn't trade it for anything._

 _You have to promise me you won't read the last page until tomorrow morning. It will be worth the wait, trust me. Like I trusted you when you said you'd hold me when I was scared and that you feel lost anytime I come back to England without you. We've stayed strong through the ups and downs, even when it would make more sense to turn away and let it all go. We've made mistakes and had our fights, but what's on the last page will make it all seem worth it. At least I hope it will, it certainly has for me. This will be the best New Year yet, my love, just don't jump ahead to the last page._

"What are you doing, love?" Charlie grumbled as he yawned and made his way into the room. She smiled up at him and folded the letter over in her hands, knowing that the next several pages were filled with memories of that first New Year's Eve when he'd kissed her on her doorstep, taking her by surprise, and the two they'd shared after that. Last night was the third they'd shared as a couple since that first kiss. Scattered throughout were other memories of the many midnights they'd spent sitting up together both in London and in Romania. Whether it was nursing a baby dragon, losing track of the time as the talked, or making love through the night. They'd shared many midnights together over the years.

"I see you have my letter. Any chance you'll let me read the last page yet?" He smirked over his shoulder at her as he built a fire in the hearth just as she knew he would.

"Soon." She set the papers in a pile on the coffee table, opening her arms to him as he stood up and crossed to her.

His lips were warm and soft against her mouth, as they almost always were, and she sighed with contentment. She couldn't remember every kiss they'd shared, but she was certain most of them had felt as perfect as this.

"What are you thinking?" he asked as he pulled back to settle next to her, pulling her legs up onto his lap.

"I was just thinking how many memories we have together. How we got from friends to where we are now. I've been thinking about it a lot lately, it's why I wrote you that letter, to begin with. Someplace to hold some of my favourite memories."

"You could always just hold onto me. I have all our memories too." He teased, playfully tickling at her bare legs under the blanket.

"We should really get this place cleaned up before we go to your mother's for lunch…" she sighed and looked around again at the bottles, glitter, photographs, candlewax, and misplaced clothing.

"After another amazing midnight with you, I think I can handle cleaning up some bottles before facing my family for a few hours." He chuckled and it filled her with a warm glow. She loved Charlie's laugh, she would recognize the sound anywhere.

"Please don't ever change." she suddenly blurted, losing herself for a moment in the blue of his eyes.

"What?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow in confusion.

"I love you the way you are. Every last freckle and lopsided grin. Don't ever change." she emphasized, reaching to lift up the letter and hand it to him.

"I think, perhaps, it's time for you to read the last page." She bit her lip and waited for him to do it, watching as the confusion got worse a first. Then, suddenly, she saw it click.

"Hermione… you're?" He lit up as she nodded, launching himself at her and kissing her passionately.

"Oh! I didn't hurt it did I? I'm such a brute…" he chastised himself as he jumped back from her.

"No, you couldn't have hurt the baby, Charlie. I'm not that far along yet for much on the outside of my body to be able to affect anything." She took his hand in hers and kissed the back of it, smiling madly at the man that would soon be a father for the first time.

"Now I know why you weren't drinking last night." he laughed and kissed her again, gently this time. She smiled at him and leaned her head onto his chest. Making him wait until the morning had certainly been the right choice.

She closed her eyes for a moment and imagined what might have happened if she'd told him before the party. No glitter and confetti tracked through the flat. No barefoot friends stumbling home through the lobby of her building. No power outage and candle wax. No silly pictures to commemorate their last New Year's Eve as just the two of them. Next year it would be them plus a little one. And maybe, over the course of many more midnights, that number would grow and they would have more than just each other forever more.

"What are you thinking now?" he smirked at her, reading the faraway look on her face all too well.

"It's wonderful that I get to hold onto these memories and onto you. That someday our arms will be full of more than just each other. But so long as your laugh stays the same, it will be like that very first midnight. Perfect and full of promise." He grinned and kissed her again, liking the sound of that.


End file.
